One Plus One

"Unclieeeeeee!!!!"

Little feet came pattering—Yeju, sprinting in from far across the way.

"Haha, you're that happy to see your un—"

"Cock-a-doodle-dooooo!!!"

So it wasn't me she'd been waiting on. It was the chicken.

"…Eat a lot, Yeju."

"Yeah! Thanks, Uncle!"

"What possessed you to buy two whole birds. You and I both barely eat a thing."

And there it was, my sister's nagging, already underway. In this, she was the very image of Mom.

"Then Mom and Uncle can share one! Yeju'll eat a whole chicken all by herself!"

"All right. Our Yeju, eat plenty."

"Yeah!"

We spread newspaper over the floor and set the chicken down on top of it. Where the oil had kissed the paper, a faint fried fragrance seeped out and drifted up, warm and rich.

Chicken only tastes right when you eat it off newspaper.

"Shall we have a beer?"

"Why? Writing not coming again?"

"Haah. It's not that. This one's just not getting much of a response, so I'm worried."

Income that never arrived on a schedule—the chronic ache of freelance life, and worse still when you weren't looking after yourself alone, but a family.

My sister had never once talked about her work, so I hadn't known what she wrote. Then, not long ago, I'd happened to catch the title.

The pen name she went by, the kind writers use among themselves, was Yeju Baragi. After the divorce I'd been plagued by insomnia, and one dawn, awake and restless, curiosity got the better of me. I read a little.

The hero dies in an unforeseen accident. Pitying a man who left behind a wife and the baby in her womb, God grants him reincarnation—a chance to return to their side.

In exchange, a single condition is attached.

I didn't read any further. Go on, and I'd start pouring my sister into it, and I knew I'd choke up.

Get divorced, and apparently my estrogen goes up too.

"It'll be all right. You've done fine all this time."

I had no real comfort to offer, so I handed her a thin one. If the Random Box would at least cough up a first-prize lottery ticket, I might have managed something more entertaining…

What even was that Captain Fart nonsense? Still, I'd tested it on the bus, and the effect was unmistakable. Silent. Scentless. Maybe it wasn't so bad.

"That's right! Mom's Superman!"

Just then Yeju, a drumstick clutched in both hands, got the words out around a mouthful.

At the batter smeared at the corner of Yeju's mouth, my sister broke into a snort of laughter.

"That's right. Mom is Yeju's Superman."

That night, Ju Hayeon—who ordinarily never so much as glanced at the comments, buried as they were under every kind of malicious reply—put Yeju soundly to sleep and, loosened by the drink, opened the comment window.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

Reading it, a lump rose in Ju Hayeon's throat. She stroked the head of Yeju, who was asleep and breathing soft and even.

"Mommy's going to try her best to get back up, too."

Three days passed. Not counting today, the Random Box had opened twice.

The results were genuinely wretched.

…….

Two seconds? That was just a jump.

When the ability first appeared, I was tempted. However short five seconds might be, there would surely come a time it helped.

That is, until I read the restriction.

…….

Then what was the point.

And then, the present. A Random Box window, its cooldown finally spent, rose in front of me.

I can't even bring myself to hope anymore…

Wondering what bizarre ability would turn up this time, I pressed the button.

Flash—light shimmered before my eyes again like a flare, and a new window rose.

Uh… huh?

This one… wasn't this actually huge?

I stared at the window for a moment. From the instant I'd opened the Random Box, time had already been running.

So every line I skimmed would be stored in my head—and understood, on top of that.

It was clearly a good ability. In that same instant, a dozen thoughts started crowding in.

Should I read university textbooks and chase a professor's dream? Or cookbooks, and switch careers to chef?

If not that, maybe I ought to learn to code.

What can I actually do right now?

I worried over it for a long while, then settled on the books I would read across those twenty-four hours.

"Unclieee! Wake up… you're already awake?"

At Yeju's voice, my sister came bustling into the room, spatula still in hand.

"Look at you. What's gotten into you, being up—no, you're even reading? What is this? Is the sun about to rise in the west?"

"Gasp! The sun rises in the west? Let's go see, quick, Mom!"

"……. I need to focus alone in my room for the whole day, so keep it down."

"You're not going in to work?"

"I took the day off."

"Huh? You didn't say anything like that up through yesterday."

Of course it was same-day leave.

Ever since the last threat, Team Leader Park had been watching my mood so carefully that the office was probably more comfortable without me in it.

"Uncle! But why are you suddenly reading?"

"Yeju, you know the word 'reading'? Smart."

"Yeah! Yeju's super smart! I read books every single day!"

"You don't read them. Mom reads them to you."

"Th-that's…"

"Yeju! Stop bothering Uncle and let's get ready for kindergarten."

"Yeah!"

Yeju narrowly escaped the crisis and left the room. I went back to the books.

What I'd chosen were books on investing.

Professor, chef, programmer—however good my head might be, none of those were things you became overnight. In the end I'd have to quit the job and start ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from nothing, and at my age that would be no easy matter. Investing, though, I could do while keeping the job, and if I went after the U.S. market, the evenings were open besides.

Even as I read, I worried a little. I hadn't known so much as PER or PBR, concepts anyone who'd so much as dabbled in investing already understood, and I'd never had the slightest interest in any of it.

But now a skim was enough. The contents drove themselves straight into my head.

PER, PBR, ROE, DCF… from the various theories of the stock market all the way through SEC filings and the guts of one report after another. It wasn't mere memorization. The theories gathered in my mind and threw out branches—a comprehensive understanding tied to real cases.

So this is why people worship Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch like gods…

Click.

Burned myself all the way down…

In the mirror, dark circles had settled thick beneath my eyes.

Before I slept, I installed an MTS—a mobile trading system—on my phone.

I may have the theory down cold, but isn't real investing a different realm entirely?

Investing is the live fight. If knowing the theory were enough to make money, economists would already be rich.

All I had in the bank was a mere forty million won. When was I supposed to save enough, on that, to buy a car—buy a house?

Thinking about it, I didn't even have a choice.

My monthly pay sat just over three million won, and that only because I'd been promoted to assistant manager. When I first joined, it had been around two and a half. The raises weren't sky-high just because it was a big company, either. They roughly kept pace with inflation. A house? What house?

Even marrying Lee Somin, the whole of what I'd managed was a jeonse—a home secured by one enormous deposit—taken ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠on mostly in debt.

There had been a time we said we'd save steadily, together, and pay it down. Once we were actually married, my wife's spending showed no intention of shrinking.

I wasn't even hoping to remarry. My only wish was a single house where my sister and Yeju could live at ease.

Win or lose, I'm not backing down.

I moved all forty million won into a stock account and got into bed.

…….

Of course, before I slept, the Random Box had to be cracked open.

Obviously, Y.

Sure enough, with a flashing burst of light, a new window appeared.

One plus one?

What was I supposed to choose?

No—choose, and it gave me one more?

The window didn't even give me time to think.

What was I even supposed to pick?

And then another restriction caught my eye.

Choose the phone, and it would give me another phone?

How much did I even purely own… My head was starting to ache.

Don't tell me this works too?

The stock account, lit up on my phone.

Gulp.

If the account went one-plus-one… would my assets double?

There was no time left to hesitate. I selected the stock account at once.

And in that instant, my mouth fell open at what unfolded before my eyes.

Th-this is real?

The assets in the stock account had become exactly double.